Silverbullet presents two scenarios: Scenario 1: God allows Fred to kill Suzie because of some greater good but the killing of Suzie is nonetheless evil. Scenario 2: God commands Fred to kill Suzie as a devotional act of commitment to God which leads to some greater good, but the killing of Suzie is nonetheless evil. […]
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Meditation on yellow toilet water
This past summer my daughter and I visited what must surely be the lamest tourist trap in Alberta. I won’t say what it was, but I will say that snapping this picture was the high-point. After I had gotten over the irony it actually made a disturbing amount of sense. Why not supply toilets with […]
Randal’s Saturday evening movie recommendation: Requiem
Anneliese Michel was a young German Catholic who reported being tormented by demons. Initially she reported hearing demonic voices telling her that she would be damned. But it didn’t stop there as her behavior became increasingly bizarre: she reportedly ate pieces of coal and spiders and sunk into a world of depression and paranoid delusion. Then, after […]
An argument for Christian meatatarians to consider
Every couple months a church I know puts on a social event called “Men and Meat” where all the chaps in the church get together, consume copious amounts of meat and, er, beat their chests? The event reflects a troubling notion that masculinity is tantamount to a machismo that, among other things, is expressed in […]
Is eating turkey morally justified?
Since my American friends are enjoying their Thanksgiving turkey this evening, I thought it a good time to raise Gary Francione’s argument for vegetarianism (veganism actually). Francione is a well known animal rights activist, though something of a pariah in some circles because he disagrees sharply with other leading theorists in the movement like Tom […]
Did God raise up Bin Laden?
The question is repugnant not only on the surface but all the way down to its very core. It presumes a moral framework that is utterly alien to my way of understanding the universe. And yet it is a question that kept bubbling to the surface as I read Clay Jones’ essay “We Don’t Hate Sin […]
Three theses on devotional child killing
The article I presented at the Atlanta SBL meeting, titled “‘I want to give the baby to God’: Three theses on devotional child killing” is now available! This is the biggest release since Gran Turismo 5! So to read and/or download the paper you can click here or go find it in the “Academic Papers” […]
I want to know what evil is
The critics never liked Foreigner much, but then their mullet-wearin’ Camaro-drivin’ fans never liked the critics much. And really, who could resist the infectious drive of an arena-grade power ballad like “I want to know what love is”? Although Lou Gramm may have been asking what love is, I think he had a reasonably good […]
The day God (didn’t) command a father to kill his child
Some quick background At the already mentioned evening of fun and frolic at SBL in Atlanta, I rediscovered something I already knew: that in the minds of many Christians it is perfectly fine for God to demand his followers sometimes to engage in extremely violent acts in his name, perhaps even killing their healthy children […]
An update in the wake of Atlanta (plus a bit on rape and child killing)
Well I’m back (as if anybody cares). Wait a minute. I care, so I’ll keep talking to myself if nobody else. It was a good time at the annual ETS conference (with a day at SBL thrown in). Let me say the weather was fine. It has been seven or eight years since I was in […]
T-Rex dung as a problem for Christians
Pearson International Airport in Toronto has decent FREE wi-fi so here y’are. A mid-day post free of charge. This is prefatory to John Loftus’ essay in The Christian Delusion on natural evil. (I will present an actual review when I get back to Edmonton next week and have the book in front of me.) I […]
What does the form of the good look like?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a comic book superhero geek. I grew up reading Archie comics. But nonetheless it has always seemed to me that Captain Marvel never got his due. And so this is the second time today I’ve made reference to this poorly understood caped crusader. I’m just trying to give the […]
Georgia on my mind
On Wednesday November 17th I’ll be flying to Atlanta, Georgia for the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. I’ll also be sticking around for the beginning of the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting so that I can deliver a paper at a forum titled “Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?” on Saturday night. I am going […]
Hector Avalos puts Yahweh in the dock (or tries to)
Hector Avalos, “Yahweh is a Moral Monster,” The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, ed. John Loftus (Amherst: Prometheus, 2010), 209-236. At long last we continue our ongoing, meandering, waxing and wandering review of The Christian Delusion with a quick review of Hector Avalos’ essay “Yahweh is a Moral Monster.” I don’t have too much to say about […]
